I Can't Own Her
"I Can't Own Her" is a song by Andy Partridge. It appeared on the 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1. The demo appeared on Apple Venus Volume 1's companion demo album, Homespun. An instrumental version appeared on the Apple Venus Volume 1 instrumental album, Instruvenus. Quotes Andy (on the demo): “If it hadn't been for Haydn Bendall pushing rather passionately for this song, I doubt if it would have made it past this demo stage. Again, I felt like I'd exposed rather too much of myself to feel comfortable with. I'd written a song, which to my mind, had made me look weak, soft, indecisive and worst of all for a man, romantic. My life had been in turmoil. Someone I loved dearly was leaving my life and someone I loved dearly was entering it. I guess I was grasping for permanence under big waves of uncertainty. How could I seal my relationships, how could I stop this from happening in the future? You can buy a chair. And own that chair. You can buy a pen and own that pen, but you can't do that with a person. The Gossamer frailty of human love had frightened me awake. “Another reason I was reluctant to record a finished version was the ‘loungey’ feel of this demo. It was recorded, one or two chords at a time, into a computer with a sound that was a mixture of piano and string samples. This gave it a plump but leaden, sedate feel. Somehow, in my head it was more rolling and turbulent (much more how the album version thankfully turned out) and more like the climate in my heart. “One thing the demo caught which I think is a little missing on the finished one is the almost astral sense of suspension, brought about by the high F sharp hanging over the ‘swirling sky’ C chords. This interval makes me think of a paper lantern moon dangling from a cotton thread. I can't help it, my head's wired that way.” Lyrics And I may as well wish for the moon in hand I own this river, I own this town All of it's climbers and it's wino's sliding down But I can't own her and I never will No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill Taken with rain 'Til the gutter shines like the swirling sky Like the swirling sky I've got all morning, I've got all year It's down in my pocket with the daylight folded there But I can't own her and I never will No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill Taken with rain How I'd wash her hair like the swirling sky Like the swirling sky And when I say I can't own her I don't mean to buy her It's nothing at all to do with money I simply want her in my arms forever more Is that an odd request? Is that something so funny? And I may as well wish for the moon in hand Yes there's more chance of that coming true But I can't own her and I never will No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill So I can't own her (Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her) And I never will (And she's the one thing that you just can't have) No I can't own her (Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her) And that's a bitter pill (And she's the one thing that you just can't have) Taken with rain Which I swallow down with the swirling sky With the swirling sky But I can't own her And I may as well wish for the moon in hand No I can't own her Yes there's more chance of that coming true Category:Discography Category:Songs by Andy Partridge